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George Will and the Bradley Foundation

By Dylan Byers

01/05/12 11:23 AM EST

In November, I reported that George Will's wife had gone to work for the Rick Perry campaign, a relationship he has since disclosed in his dual roles as Washington Post columnist and ABC News contributor. Today, progressive media watchdog Media Matters digs up another tricky relationship for Will — this time with the conservative Bradley Foundation. Joe Strupp writes:

Will was elected to the Bradley Foundation board in 2008 and received the Bradley Prize in 2005. A Nov. 19, 2011, Milwaukee Journal Sentinelstory about the Bradley Foundation revealed Will received $250,000 for the Bradley Prize and still receives $43,500 annually as a board member.

Media Matters reviewed Will's columns from mid-2008 to the present and found at least a dozen instances in which he has promoted conservative groups that have received money from the Bradley Foundation without disclosing his connection to the foundation. Those groups include the Heritage Foundation, the Hudson Institute, the American Enterprise Institute and the Federalist Society, and National Affairs quarterly.

Will's supervisors at the Post defended him. "Is it seriously a surprise to you that George Will quotes experts from conservative think tanks more often than he quotes experts from liberal think tanks?" editorial page editor Fred Hiatt wrote to Strupp.